Kid's Holiday

Went down south for three day on the 20th to see family and bring back the grandchildren for two week's.
On the 21st & 22nd went out birdwatching with Damien, we went to Chew Valley on Saturday & to Slimbridge Wildfowl trust on Sunday, Great time weather was sunny with light breeze, better than the constant rain over the last few month's.
The flight to Inverness & on to Kirkwall was uneventful but  the further north we went the greyer the weather.
Over the next few day's we managed to get the boat in the water ,the  first trip I took Alanta & Mitchell round the bay and then returned for Jill , the next day I took Mitchell out fishing for three hours ( no fish) while Jill & Alanta went into town shopping. The weather changed for the next few days with rain and a strong South westerly breeze, today it is still light showers but warm so will try to take them out on the boat this evening at high tide,.

More Family Visit's

What a contrast, when Damien and Leanne visited us in April it was bitterly cold with snow showers, this past week we had a visit from Jean & Dave, The weather was fantastic Hot and Dry with only a light breeze. We spent the week Bird watching travelling from one end of Orkney to the other, Dave enjoyed watching the Short-eared Owls and Hen Harriers and a Pagan Wedding at The Ring of Brodgar. Jean and Jill enjoyed a shopping trip to Kirkwall while Dave and I chased up and down hills looking for Hen Harriers,. It was great to have Jean & Dave here.
The weather changed the day after they left, back to NE winds, bitterly cold but sunny.
The next Visit will be from the Grand Children in August.

                                                             Jean And me at Birsay.

                                                                   Ring of Brodgar

                                                                

                                                                  Brough of Birsay

Long Family Weekend

Damien and Leanne paid us a visit on the weekend before Easter, staying for four nights, It was  nice to see them back together again. The weather was bitterly cold with frequent snow showers but that never stopped us going out , We travelled around South Ronaldsay and Mainland Orkney bird watching and showing Leanne the places of interest and on the Monday night we all went to The Sands Restaurant at Burray ,the next Island to ours and had a good meal.
Unfortunately the time went by quickly and it was time for them to return south, promising to return again. It was nice to see Leanne as she is so easy going and you can see the difference in Damien more smiles and happy again. Great Time thanks for visiting.

All Smiles in the bitter cold.

Bird Watching at Sand Geo .

Damien with Marwick Head in background.

Visit by Marcus

Marcus paid us a visit from the 1^st Feb-10^th Feb, He flew from Bristol to Inverness then took the Bus to Gills bay and the ferry to St Margaret’s Hope, arriving at 7.30pm.The weather has not been that bad, bright and breezy but cold, not as cold as down south, with no snow and only the occasional frost.

Marcus spent two days fishing but never caught anything, He has been walking most days and on Tuesday we all went over to Eastside a walk of about one hour each way, on arriving at the beach the tide was out exposing the rock ledges and rock pools.

After a warning from me that Buster was a runner Marcus decided to let Buster off his lead, Well two seconds later he was off like a greyhound straight along the beach which is over a mile long, Buster was after the birds and all along the beach flocks of waders were scattering in all directions as Buster disappeared out of sight, Marcus started to run ,Buster then headed out over the rocks towards the tide line with number one son in hot pursuit , by the time Jill and I caught up, Marcus could be seen out on the rocks trying to grab Buster who was swimming around and still looking for birds, Marcus grabbed Buster but was now immersed up to his crutch in the bitterly cold North Sea. It was hard not laugh as they both floundered in rock pools, I don’t know what words were aimed at Buster but I am sure that they were not greetings.

Below are a couple of pictures, not very sharp at that distance but give a good impression of the fun they were having.

The Chimney Saga. Or Cowboys with Kilt’s.The End

Another few phone calls at the beginning of the week did the trick , They returned for two days and finished the job. Fire installed , upstairs fireplace rebuilt and pots reinstalled on top of stack. We now have a fully working log burner, All we are waiting for now is the bill. I will not be using that firm again.
The weather has turned cold and wet and there is a possibility of snow over the next few days. 

The Chimney Saga. Or Cowboys with Kilt’s.Part Two

Well after a very long wait (four Weeks) and two phone calls ,they came back today.
Straight up onto the roof they went and proceeded to remove Two chimney pots, before removing the wall inside the stack which divides it into separate flues. Within an hour they were able to stand inside the top of the stack, this gave them more room to remove the boulders that were blocking the flue, another hour and the flue liner was in place. Time to go they said, ( after only three hours work)  We will be back tomorrow to fit fire and clean up mess, that just leaves the hole in upper fireplace, no longer needed and the rebuilding of the top of stack, I wonder when I will see them next.    

The Chimney Saga. Or Cowboys with Kilt’s.

We purchased a Log burning stove for the dining room back in the summer, It was decided we needed a flue liner installed so got in touch with the chimney experts ! we were told to purchase twelve meters of six inch flue liner at a cost of £500.00, this was promptly ordered, No problem this was going to be a quick job.

Six weeks later we were still waiting, numerous phone calls with various excuses ( I’ve been on holiday so not sure what is happening, or the chimney people have it, no we don’t were still waiting etc etc.   Well after eight weeks Chimney man arrives at the door, no prior phone calls, Within five minutes we have fifty kg of soot in the fireplace and all over the room and drifting around the house (blood pressure rising ). Next two large boulders come crashing down the chimney and we are informed by man on roof ,your flue is blocked by a very large boulder completely blocking the way, To the question “ If its blocked how did the other two boulders get  past the blockage “ I got a blank look and then ,We will be back with a long bar to break up boulder..

The next day they return with large scaffolding bar and Bang, Bang, Bang, they succeed  in forcing the boulder further down the chimney, now tighter than ever ,the only thing that will remove is C4 explosive was my remark. They then proceeded to push the rod’s with a big hook on the end up the hole, result we have rods jammed as well as boulder. We will be back and will cut hole through the fireplace in bedroom feed the flue past the blockage and up through the bedroom chimney, no problem.

They return three days later and knock a hole two feet by eighteen inches through the fire Brest,  That’s it they exclaim, all we need to do now is feed liner down through the pot and connect to fire, “ Famous last words” Five minutes later they are down from the roof with the words “ The liner is to big it won’t fit” We will be back with a short length of five inch liner if that fits we will order twelve meters of five inch .

That was three weeks ago, we are still waiting, We now have six bags of rubble an assortment of stones and boulders piled on the bedroom floor and all three fireplaces sealed with plastic to keep out the droughts and dust.

Part two will be in the new year, won’t hold my breath.

Cowboy on the roof.